Posted on 06/16/2006 11:43:37 AM PDT by Dark Skies
The people of Sarajevo, renowned for their pluralism, have been shaken after a series of incidents including the murder of a Muslim woman by her Islamic extremist son who questioned her faith.
Upholders of Bosnia's moderate version of Islam say the problem caused by an influx of hardline fighters during the country's 1992-1995 war has worsened in recent months, highlighted by the gruesome murder.
"Bosnia's tradition of Islam is tolerant, it promotes pluralism and we should not allow those representing a one-track ideology to teach us," says Jasmin Merdan.
The 26-year-old -- a practising Muslim who portrays himself as a "victim" of the Wahhabi ideology before abandoning it -- is one of the few courageous voices in Bosnia who dares to criticise extremism.
"They express their convictions with violence, introduce anarchy in mosques and preach intolerance," says Merdan, who recently founded an association in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo to fight against "those who deny basic teachings of Islam".
Supported by a handful of independent journalists, Merdan recently published a book condemning the harmful influence on Bosnian people of Wahhabism, a radical version of Islam.
Merdan says the book was "warmly welcomed by imams who do not dare to speak" but sparked death threats against him and pressure from members of the Wahhabi community.
Several incidents since the beginning of the year have shaken Sarajevo and confirmed Merdan's fears.
In February, a young man who recently converted to Wahhabism killed his mother reportedly because she refused to join him for morning prayers.
After the murder, the 23-year-old went to a "Wahhabi" mosque with blood on his hands and clothes, telling his fellow believers that he just made a "sacrifice to God".
In addition, several young couples have complained to the local media and police that they had been harassed by "bearded" men in parks while they were kissing and hugging.
According to Merdan, they were members of the so-called "Sharia militia" -- a group of self-styled religious police. However local police said they were not aware of the group's existence.
Wahhabism is a hardline version of Islam that originated in 18th century Saudi Arabia. It took its roots in Bosnia, whose Muslims are mostly followers of moderate Islam, in the country's 1992-1995 war.
During the conflict, hundreds of volunteers from Islamic countries -- known as "holy warriors" or mujahedin -- came to Bosnia to fight alongside its mainly Muslim army.
All of the foreign fighters were expected to leave the country following the war, but an unknown number of them remained and obtained Bosnian citizenship mostly by marrying local women.
"Since the war, the number of followers of Wahhabism has been growing," says Merdan, slamming the "passiveness" of Bosnia's laic and religious authorities.
Some 40 percent of Bosnia's 3.8 million inhabitants are Muslims. Orthodox Christian Serbs represent about 31 percent, while Roman Catholic Croats account for around 10 percent.
Merdan voiced regret that the Bosnian Muslim religious leader, Mustafa Ceric, has never publicly condemned the activities of the Wahhabists.
Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of a Bosnian weekly, Vildana Selimbegovic, deplored the "isolation" of the few Muslim theologians who voice their dissatisfaction with the presence of Wahhabists.
"Politicians do no want to or are too afraid to talk. The majority of Muslims remain silent. It seems that they will remain silent until the devil claims his due," Selimbegovic wrote in the weekly Dani.
Sarajevo's imposing King Fahd Mosque, named after the late Saudi monarch who financed its construction, has in the past few years become the core of Bosnian followers of Wahhabism.
"Sometimes I ask myself whether I am really in Sarajevo. The number of bearded men and women dressed in chadors will soon be equal to other people," comments Adnan, a young Muslim who lives near the mosque.
Adnan says that the King Fahd Mosque has attracted a number of Wahhabi families from surrounding neighborhoods.
"They try the same recipe as in Sudan or other Arab countries," says Merdan.
"If we allow them, in 20 years, people like me will not be allowed to speak," he stresses.
If you can't understand cause and effect, you're not the only Serb in that state.
Take some time to consider the following:
When the carnage of war began unfolding in that spring, the Muslim-led Bosnian government was outgunned, outmanned, and almost entirely on the defensive. Western diplomatic condemnation of ethnic Serb offences was met with deaf ears, and the embattled Muslims struggled to hold out against a superior military force. The grave predicament captured the attention of sympathetic Muslims everywhere in the world, and particularly the Middle East. During the war, thousands of young men driven by a warped sense of religious chivalry travelled to Bosnia ostensibly in the hopes of defending the ancient and threatened Muslim community in the Balkans. The first of these volunteers to arrive were full of enthusiasm, but were without widespread military experience or any significant organized leadership. A glaring lack of organization naturally also entailed a regular shortage of basic military equipment and supplies. These early 'mujahideen' typically joined Bosnian civil defence forces, which by their own estimates 'proved largely ineffective.' Not surprisingly, these foreign soldiers were disappointed at the little impact their efforts were making.
It would not be long before a much more serious effort was made by distant Islamic extremists to aid the suffering Bosnian Muslims. These young men, galvanized by hateful religious and political ideologies, were determined to turn the global tide against the 'infidel' regimes, even those outside the traditional boundaries of the Middle East. 'At the forefront' of the movement of Arab volunteer soldiers to Bosnia were the mujahideen veterans of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, which had served as 'an institute for the teaching of jihad' and was the birthplace of Al-Qaida.
Kohlmann, Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe, pp 15-16
Following the mujahideen conquest of Kabul in April of 1992, Shaykh Abu Abdel Aziz had travelled with four other unidentified veteran Arab-Afghan commanders to Bosnia-Herzegovina to 'check out the landscape' and determine if the Balkans would serve as a fertile ground for the displaced Arab-Afghan government, which was no longer officially welcomed in Pakistan. However, unlike other remote spots in his worldwide tour of Muslim 'hot spots', Bosnia was truly a foreign land to the Islamic extremists of the Middle East. Prior to the Western media coverage of the expanding civil war there, many had admittedly never even heard of the place. In an interview with Al-Daawah magazine, Abu Abdel Aziz confessed that, at this point, 'we were unable to understand where Bosnia was, was it in America or in the southern hemisphere of Asia? We had no idea where it was. We found out that it is a part of Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe, we still had no idea how many Muslims were there and we had no idea as to how and when Islam reached there.
ibid, p 18
So let me reiterate for you:
If the Serbs didn't want wahabbis in Bosnia, they shouldn't have gotten all stupid in 1992. But in typical Serb fashion, they not only screwed themselves, but jacked up the neighborhood in the process of getting their asses beat.
"Well, it would were there any Balkan muslims in Gitmo or showing up in Iraq or Afghanistan, but they're not, Tom, because you're simply FOS and making your "facts" up as you go along."
******Nope, everything I say is either in an official report I have sent to HQ or a timeline I was keeping, and I will search for it and post it here. It's been a few years but you will be surprised. Everything I say is documented or I wouldn't say it.....100% legit. I didn't say any of the Albanians or Macedonians signed up...I said they were recruiting, you know.....soliciting......You made an assumption that there were takers, they don't have the gonads to do that. Besides, they made up mostly the NLA, UCPMB, TMK, KPC, Black Eagles and about 6 other rebel groups formed from 1999 to 2003.........There were probably no takers that went to Iraq or Afghanistan. Recruiting or soliciting is different than signing up. I've also got it documented from KFOR reports, of the....oh excuse me......"Attempts to recruit" fighters for Iraq........let me be more specific for you.....:)
Exclusive....Hoplite found on secret hidden camera.....
http://www.guzer.com/videos/reallybadday.php
Hopelite....I read the paragraphs....Yes, the Serbs were taking care of an infection by Muslims. This is what we are doing also....so, I don't see the problem in killing about 2,000-3,000 in a war.... what's the big deal.
The religion of peace, favored by leftists everywhere.
The West needs to wake up and just ban routinely going about masked in public.
Thank you Bill Clinton and Wesley Clark.
Thanks for posting. Interesting, informative thread.
As long as the extremists are free to attack without fear of being attacked, then they will ultimately win
Whereas you have demonstrated that you don't know enough about the subject to speak with any kind of authority.
Further, when confonted with facts contrary to your position, you lack the intellectual and mental capabilities to reconcile your views with reality, and instead insist upon either denying those facts which conflict with your reality, or simply ignoring them.
Tell me, where has it gotten you and the Serbs?
And since you're FOS, I don't care.
Get that through your head, Tom. Just because you've found one group of suckers to prey upon, doesn't mean everybody's going to buy your BS.
"Get that through your head, Tom. Just because you've found one group of suckers to prey upon, doesn't mean everybody's going to buy your BS."
****ouuuuu, getting a little bit personal are we. :) anway, I'm not going to get it through my head as I am relentless. Once again, all I'm telling you is true and documented.
IE: of a 12 page document, which I compiled detailing incidents back to 1999 that demonstrated the infiltration of Islamic extremistist into Kosovo and Macedonia...here are a few entries...specifically 20 March 03
follows:
17 March 03: The same Serbian informer from 6 March 03, provided the following information. There were three groups of Muhjahdeen that were going to be in Serbia proper. Two groups were already there, one in Turnovice and one in Rajince. Jonuz Musliu was involved in the activity in the Presevo. In addition an Albanian named “Gacip” was in charge of ANA administration, logistics and supply. He reported that an unconfirmed 500 Muhajdin had entered Kosovo from Kumanovo over the past 2 months. Finally his sources state that the AKSH has a list of politicians to kill that are members of the PDK, AAK, and LDK. The AKSH is primarily supported by members of the LKCK and LPK parties.
19 March 03: Received confirmed information from an interoffice memorandum from the UNMIK-P. Information had been received that a “KNOWN” individual employed by an Islamic NGO stated that when the US attacks Iraq, people will retaliate. It is believed that that these extremists have already been practicing for a possible attack using explosive charges on their bodies (suicide bombers). It is further believed that this group within the Pristina Region, although could be operating anywhere in Kosovo. Special attention will be given to areas close to military bases. Security at Police facilities should be tight and people should not congregate in large groups.
19 March 03 – 2320 hrs. SMUGGLING/ILLLEGAL POSSESSION OF AMMUNITION (Case # 2003 JA 1429) Shkoza village, Prizren (GR: DM 661 679) –The KFOR captured two boats, which were loaded with one hundred and twenty five boxes containing approximately one hundred thousand rounds of ammunition of 7.72 mm caliber. Reportedly four suspects managed to escape. The ammunition was confiscated by KFOR. Reportedly one KFOR helicopter also took part in the operation. Investigation continuing. * **
20 March 03: KFOR looking for Lorry with a large shipment of weapons and accompanied with a red BMW. Reported to be heading to the Kamenica area.
20 March 03: I received reliable information from a professional source that in the village Velekince an Iman (Muslim religious leader), approximately 25 years of age brought in some Muslims dressing in robes and short pants wearing the long beards. I spent 4 years in Saudi Arabia and learned over the years a lot of their habits, modus operandi and attitude. People of the village have not seen these people before and are complaining that they are praying and acting in different ways than the Albanians are accustomed to doing. It is thought that there are three or four of these individuals in the village. Following this report I inquired about any other reports and was told that the same reports came from Malisevo, Dobercane, Urosevac, and Mogila. The group in Malesevo was reportedly recruiting for fighters in Iraq about 4 weeks ago. In Dobercane the source reported that new faces have appeared and are recruiting young men to be Muslim by paying them. Also in Urosevac it’s the same reporting of Muslim extremist fitting the same description. Finally, in Mogila, Vitina Municipality, there is the same report of these types in the Albanian section of town. This doesn’t mean that they live there or hang around on the street corners with empty coin cups.
"No mass graves in Kosovo."
Whatever, Tom.
I could tell in the Video, post 65....you might need to go on a diet.....:))
Oh, on a serious note, back in 2000 I was informed by the Italian Carab. about the banking system the Saudi's were using to include account numbers. The money in one account was receiving $100,000 per month for the SJRC to use.....for furthering their infection within the population. The moderate Albanians weren't buying into their spel.....American institutions are buying into it....
Waging jihad with $$$s
By Stan Goodenough
December 14th, 2005
Why would a Saudi Arabian prince give $40 million in grants to two prestigious American universities?
And why choose Harvard as one of them?
These conundrums had news anchors in the United States speculating wildly Wednesday morning.
Fox News’ Alan Colmes suggested that Prince Ali Walid Bin-Talal – who the liberal co-host of the popular Hannity & Colmes show called “a friend of America” – had made the generous gesture in order to encourage the creation of an environment in which young Americans could learn more about the “true nature” of Islam in a manner geared to instill tolerance for other faiths.
Rebutting him, conservative Sean Hannity wondered why the prince did not sponsor a course in tolerance in his home country.
When it comes to religion, Saudi Arabia is probably the most intolerant country on the face of the earth. The public worship of religions other than the official version of Sunni Islam is prohibited by law.
Not a single church or synagogue exists in the desert-kingdom. Jews are not welcome there at all, and when Christians visit, woes betide them if they try to bring in their Bibles, which can and have been confiscated and even shredded at Jeddah's airport.
The right of Christians to hold Bible studies and prayer meetings in the privacy of their own homes is not defined in law and is seldom respected in practice. Christians have been persecuted and executed in this land – the birthplace of Islam.
But here comes Bin-Talal, one of the richest men in the world, doling out megabucks to two influential American study centers in order to engender a teaching of tolerance?
There are a number of words to define his action. Hypocrisy and impudence are two of them.
The real motive behind his sweeping signing of large checks, however, is more subtle, devious and perilous than many realize.
It was an investment in jihad – the Islamic principle and duty of holy war. His money was indeed meant to open the doors to greater tolerance in the USA, but not to tolerance for other faiths. Only tolerance for Islam – so that it can flourish and spread.
While often perpetrated in acts of violence, terrorism and mass murder (bus-bombings in Israel, the 9-11 attack on the USA) jihad can also be waged by other means, including acts of social welfare, and education.
Whether through the barrel of an AK-47 or the appointment of Muslims to the faculties of American universities and the promotion of Islam on those campuses – the aim is always the same: To bring the targeted individuals and/or nations into submission to Allah – into Dar al-Islam (the world of Islam).
Harvard is to use its gift to establish a university-wide program on Islamic studies.
Georgetown plans to plough its $20 million – the second largest donation it has ever received – into expanding its Center for Christian-Muslim Understanding.
Exemplary as the latter project sounds – and no doubt the thought of nurturing an environment like this will warm the heart of Mr. Colmes and Co. – the reality established through 1400 or so years since Mohammed entered the picture, and vividly evidenced in Muslim states until today, is that Islam is only tolerant of those who submit to its ways.
Islam means submission. It stands for coercive domination and forced subjugation. Its adherents – from Osama Bin Laden to Ali Walid Bin-Talal to the sheiks and imams in mosques from Mecca to Ramallah to London to New York – are all champions of this cause.
Islam is expanding its borders at a petrifying pace. It first feasted on the lands where Christianity flourished at its birth and has long been preparing to swallow Europe, the erstwhile bastion of Christendom.
And it is licking its lips as it conducts forays into the heart of America, one of the last nations to nurture the Christian flame.
Fueled by the belief that it is soon to see the realization of its terror-driven effort to disinherit the Jews of half their historic homeland in readiness for their takeover of it all, the eyes of 1.8 billion Muslims that looked westwards in September 2001, are gleaming in anticipation now as they survey the once inconceivable inroads their creed has made across the USA.
It is bitterly ironic that the religion of the men who struck New York and the Pentagon with such brutality has been the foremost beneficiary of those attacks.
Since then, the Bush administration has fallen over backwards to make fact out of two fallacies: that Islam is a religion of peace, and that Allah and the God of the Bible are one.
Prince Bin-Talal clearly believes in making hay while the White House shines on him and his co-religionists.
His investment in the destruction of America will escape the probes of the CIA and Department of Homeland Security as they work to close down the charities that are fronts for funding Hamas, Al-Qaeda and so on.
The Saudi prince is sowing his seeds of corruption into the lives of young Americans. By choosing Harvard – a school founded on the Christian faith for the training of Christian leaders back in the very first days of the United States – he has (wittingly or otherwise) identified and targeted a symbol of what the nation’s founding fathers intended it to become.
His objective: the next generation of American leaders.
Whether or not they need to be educated in the finer points of Islam is debatable. When it comes to the most visible conflict between Islam and the Judeo-Christian world, untold numbers of American students are already firmly in the Arab’s court.
In a press release accompanying another large check cleverly presented to New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani to help alleviate the suffering caused by Bin-Talal’s fellow Saudis in 2001, the prince called for the US to “re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.”
“Our Palestinian brethren continue to be slaughtered at the hands of Israelis while the world turns the other cheek,” it went on. (An outraged Giuliani sent back the check.)
Those statements resonate in the words of a Harvard Law School student who participated in a study released this year called “America 2020: How the next [American] generation views Israel” (Frank I. Luntz for The Israel Project; June 2005).
“I think that what Israel’s doing to the Palestinians is effectively what was done to the Jews in Europe during World War II. I understand they’re living in a regime of terror, but frankly, if I were a Palestinian, I don’t know that I would not strap on a bomb and go and kill myself.”
The speaker, who is not named, was described as a woman who “someday hopes to run for politics. She is a future leader of America, and she is not alone.”
With his billions, Bin-Talal is aiming to insure that Harvard and Georgetown will turn out many more like her.
Copyright 2002-2004 Jerusalem Newswire
uh, yes there was one....it had 22 Serbs found. Where are the rest of 7,892 that has not been found of the 10,000 that the Klintoon Admin. claimed. It was so bad they had to classify a mass grave to what...? more than 3 bodies.....Of the ones that they found of the 2,108 how many were killed by Serbs because they were KLA, how many were killed by Albanians in retaliation, how many were killed by NATO's bombs...and placed in "mass graves of 2 or 3 or whatever, and then counted as a mass grave, so that the ill fated justification for entering Kosovo wouldn't look too bad as a lie....
Can you just imagine murdering your own mother because she won't pray with you!!??
If Islam is involved I can imagine anything.
At least he knows when he has lost...isn't that right, SanFran Man?
joan, you recall when he made that statement towards me? I know vooch, branicap, voronin, kate 22 and a few others do.
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